BBC - History - Hitler plans the invasion of Britain (pictures, video, facts & news) Hitler plans the invasion of Britain Hitler plans the invasion of Britain July 1940 After the invasion and defeat of France in June 1940, Hitler turned his attention to the invasion of Britain, the last country in Western Europe to stand against him. Photo: Hitler giving his 'Last Appeal to Reason' speech to the German Reichstag at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin, 19 July 1940. (akg-images/Ullstein Bild) Features in: Public reaction to the imminent invasion of Britain Public reaction to the imminent invasion of Britain Frank Scrivener and Bill Pertwee remember how England's southern coast became like a fortress in preparation for the anticipated German invasion. German scepticism about the planned invasion of Britain German naval officers describe their scepticism about the likely success of the planned invasion of Britain. History was part of Churchill's life A.J.P. Taylor describes how Churchill often turned to historical precedents. The credibility of Hitler's speeches Simon Sebag Montefiore explains why Hitler's speeches were so convincing.

The historian Simon Sebag Montefiore assesses Hitler's oratorical skills and explains why his rhetoric could have convinced the German people he had 'good' intentions. Ed Murrow Describes the Dunkirk Evacuation Ed Murrow describes the evacuation of Dunkirk. Ed Murrow, the American broadcast journalist, describes the evacuation of Dunkirk, the effect on the British population, and preparations to defend against a German invasion. More information about: Hitler plans the invasion of Britain "Eliminate the English motherland" Following six weeks of fighting in May and June, France yielded to the Nazi invasion. After the French armistice was signed on 22 June, Britain was the only country resisting Germany. Hitler did not particularly wish to invade Britain; after the fall of France, he assumed the British would simply surrender. Hitler was therefore surprised when Britain did not surrender. On 16 July, he issued 'Directive Number 16'. This authorised detailed preparations for an invasion landing in Britain, codenamed Operation Sealion. It stated: "The aim of this operation is to eliminate the English motherland as a base from which war against Germany can be continued, and, if this should become unavoidable, to occupy it to the full extent".

Defeat the RAF, then invade Initially, Directive 16 envisaged a landing along the southern coast of England, from Lyme Regis in Dorset to Ramsgate in Kent. The German navy would contain the Royal Navy in the North Sea and the Mediterranean, and would sweep the English Channel for mines. Most significantly, the German military leadership agreed that the Luftwaffe must defeat the RAF before the invasion could take place, so that it could not attack the German forces from the air as they were transported across the Channel. German forces planned to begin the air attack on 5 August. They set no specific date for the invasion, as it was dependent on the success of the air battle. However Hitler wanted all preparations to be completed by mid-August. As the Germans now controlled the entire coastline of the North Sea and France, the Luftwaffe were within easy striking distance of most of Britain. Hermann Goering, the head of the Luftwaffe, drew up plans to destroy RAF Fighter Command in just four days. Arrest political leaders, writers and journalists Other preparations for the invasion included locating all available sea and river craft in Germany and training troops in amphibious landings.

The Nazis also set out how the occupying German authorities in Britain would be organised. Amongst other tasks they planned to arrest key people who could pose a threat to their regime. The SS’s "Black Book" contained a list of targets, including Churchill and other political leaders, and writers and journalists such as Noel Coward, H.G. Wells and E.M. Forster. Whilst the Germans savoured their victory over France and began detailing their preparations for the invasion of Britain, the RAF was steeling itself for the critical battle to come. BBC - History - Hitler postpones the invasion of Britain (pictures, video, facts & news) Hitler postpones the invasion of Britain Hitler postpones the invasion of Britain 17 September 1940 The RAF had denied the Luftwaffe air superiority over the south of England. Now Hitler could not invade Britain and, on 17 September 1940, he postponed Operation Sealion. Photo: Goering, sixth from right, and other German officers look out across the English Channel towards Dover on 1 July 1940. It was as close as they would get to invading.

(IWM HU 1185) Features in: Fierce fighting over London The events of the 15th September. From the Fighter Command control room in Uxbridge, Richard Holmes describes the RAF attacks on incoming German bombers. German scepticism about the planned invasion of Britain German naval officers describe their scepticism about the likely success of the planned invasion of Britain. The resilience of Churchill and the British people The resilience of Churchill and the British people A summary of the 6 months from Germany's advance through Europe, to the end of 1940 and Britain's continued resistance to German bombing. Why didn't Hitler stop at the Russian frontier? A.J.P. Taylor reveals why he thinks Hitler decided to invade Russia. Why did Hitler insist on invading Russia? The renowned historian A.J.P. Taylor explains why he thinks the Fuhrer decided to attack his ally. More information about: Hitler postpones the invasion of Britain Hitler's attention turns away from Britain Two days after the RAF's convincing victory over the Luftwaffe on 15 September, Hitler ordered Operation Sealion be postponed "until further notice". However, he insisted that the assembled invasion forces maintained a high state of preparedness.

Hitler's attention was now turning eastwards, and detailed planning began for the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa). Sealion was finally abandoned in February 1942. Britain remains on a high state of alert Winston Churchill, meanwhile, had been made aware via intercepted German radio messages that Hitler had ordered the dismantling of crucial air loading bays in Holland. So, whilst Churchill and his Chiefs of Staff now secretly deemed an invasion impossible, the rest of Britain remained on a high state of alert for potential invasion well into 1941. Throughout the war, the British were able to de-code Germany's Enigma-encrypted communications. Information gleaned from these messages was vitally important and called Ultra - as in 'ultra secret'. Churchill called them his "golden eggs". The debate about the likelihood of invasion Some historians believe that the Germans were never serious about invading Britain, and had hoped to intimidate the government into negotiating or surrendering. There is also considerable debate about whether the invasion plan would have succeeded. Even if Hermann Goering's Luftwaffe destroyed the RAF - necessary to ensure a successful offensive landing - the formidable Royal Navy still had to be contained.

This was not a task the German admiralty relished as its fleet had suffered heavy losses in the Norway Campaign. A lack of proper invasion barges would have meant improvised craft navigating across a lengthy stretch of water peppered with mines, whilst dodging British warships. This, followed by landings on a heavily defended coastline, would have been extremely difficult. Disagreements also raged between the German army and navy over the size of the landing front. General Halder, Chief of the General Army Staff , at one point in negotiations exclaimed: 'I utterly reject the Navy's proposals [for landing on a narrow front]. I might just as well put the troops through a sausage machine!'. The invasion plan was revised several times and, as early as 14 August, there were signs that Hitler was already backing away from a landing if the odds were too high. There were, he said, other ways of defeating Britain. The bombing of British cities continues An invasion may have been postponed, but the Luftwaffe now made British cities the front line of the war, and civilians were the troops. On the evening of 17 September itself, 300 German bombers stormed over the Channel.

Harold Nicolson, the MP, wrote to his wife Vita Sackville-West: "I think we have avoided losing the war - but when I think how on earth we are going to win it, my imagination quails." Why didn't Germany invade Britain in 1940 after the fall of France? - Quora Quora You were redirected because this question was merged with Why did Hitler not invade England? Answer Wiki Written Aug 30 Above: Invasion barges assembled at the German port of Wilhelmshaven. Hitler cancelled the German plan to invade Britain - Operation Sea Lion - because it no longer had the means. “ On 17 September 1940, Hitler held a meeting with Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt during which he became convinced the operation was not viable.” This was for a number of good reasons: Germany had no military invasion fleet, being forced to use wooden river barges, which were collected in rivers of northern France, where they were bombed repeatedly by the RAF. For the seaborne invasion to have crossed the English Channel, Germany needed to sink the Royal Navy, a feat it never looked liked being able to accomplish.

To have crossed the Channel and maintained logistics, Germany also needed to defeat the RAF, so after Germany had lost the Battle of Britain by 11 October, 1940, such an invasion was doomed to failure. “In Memoirs of WWII, Churchill stated, "Had the Germans possessed in 1940 well trained [and equipped] amphibious forces their task would still have been a forlorn hope in the face of our sea and air power. In fact they had neither the tools or the training". [107] He added, "There were indeed some who on purely technical grounds, and for the sake of the effect the total defeat of his expedition would have on the general war, were quite content to see him try." [108] ” I concur with that position, if Germany had launched their invasion, the resultant catastrophe for Germany could have crippled their war effort. “In the 1974 wargame conducted at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , [119] which assumed the Luftwaffe had not yet won air supremacy and continued to divert much of their efforts into bombing London, the Germans were able to establish a beachhead in south-east England.

However, the German ground forces were delayed at the "Stop Lines" (such as the GHQ Line ), a layered series of defensive positions that had been built, each a combination of Home Guard troops and physical barriers. At the same time, the regular troops of the British Army were forming up. After only a few days, the Royal Navy was able to reach the Channel from Scapa Flow , cutting off supplies and blocking further reinforcement. Isolated and facing regular troops with armor and artillery, the invasion force was forced to surrender . [120] ” “The German navy's relative weakness, combined with the Luftwaffe's lack of air supremacy, meant it was not able to prevent the Royal Navy from interfering with the planned Channel crossings. The Navy's destruction of the second invasion wave prevented resupply and reinforcement of the landed troops, as well the arrival of more artillery and tanks. This made the position of the initially successful invasion force untenable; it suffered further casualties during the attempted evacuation. Of the 90,000 German troops who landed only 15,400 returned to France.

33,000 were taken prisoner, 26,000 were killed in the fighting and 15,000 drowned in the English Channel. All six umpires deemed the invasion a resounding failure.” ( Operation Sea Lion (wargame) ) Written Aug 31 All the answers here answer the question far more effectively then I can, but I’ll add that a probable accident that occurred during the Battle of Britain may have contributed to the final snowball. On the afternoon of August 24th, 1940, a Luftwaffe bombing raid took off from their bases in occupied France for London; their objective was a number of oil storage tanks at Rochester and Thameshaven. However, the bombers had (allegedly) miscalculated their targeting area and ended up hitting part of London itself. This was significant because only the Fuhrer had authority to authorize any direct attack on London (although Goering had a plan in place if given the go-ahead) and the “attack” was not approved.

Yet, irrespective of whether the August 24 bombing was authorised without Hitler’s notice, or an error on the part of the Luftwaffe, RAF Bomber Command began launching small-scale raids on Berlin starting the next day. Having been growing frustrated with the seemingly lack of quick results of the German bombing campaign (despite multiple RAF airfields and strategic targets being struck) and now receiving the embarrassing news of the Berlin raids, Hitler and Luftwaffe Command changed tactics. Goering was given authorization to increase raids on London on September 3rd and, in a subsequent public address , the Fuhrer declared: "… should the Royal Air Force drop two thousand, or three thousand, or four thousand kilograms of bombs, then we will now drop 150,000; […] 400,000; yes, one million kilograms in a single night. And should they declare they will greatly increase their attacks on our cities, then we will erase their cities!

[…] The hour will come that one of us will crack, and it will not be National Socialist Germany!" The Luftwaffe had switched from focusing their efforts on the RAF’s direct capacity to fight to that of bombing industrial targets and cities (‘the Blitz’) - a strategy that would have made sense if the RAF had been either wiped out or was otherwise sufficiently contained. Yet neither had been fully accomplished up until that point. Thus, every bombing raid that was being thrown against London and other industrial targets was one less that was pressuring the RAF. Combine this blunder with British improvements in aircraft and pilot intake, better RAF defenses and co-ordination, and further errors and losses from the Luftwaffe and soon the Germans lost what advantage they had; Hitler postponed Sea Lion-related operations “indefinitely” on October 30. Would Sea Lion have worked if the Luftwaffe kept the pressure on the RAF and ignored Hitler? No; the 1974 reconstruction and other factors of the planning and implementation that other commentators have cited make it clear that the Germans would never have been able to pull it off. However, this aforementioned incident does provide an example of how a comparatively minor event or decision can have bearing on a campaign’s fortunes ….

as well as how a certain dictator's increasing pattern of strategic ‘flights of fancy’ and poor decisions at critical moments ultimately cost him more then losing to Britain. Primary Sources: Written Aug 30 Because they lack the naval power projection to do so. They quickly improvised plan and examine feasibility but thoses were clearly impossible to achieve, mobilising all and every floatable asset from all germany and occupied terrotories for months, decisively crippling the economy. Britain was still a tough nuts to crack and you just dont cross a 30 miles wide body of water with a fighting forces like that. If they have previously planned and build for it, they could possibly have tried a landing, but even then the result will possibly be in jeopardy. British aren’t no shy of sending their battleships to counter an amphibious landing and even a single destroyer could have seriously hurt the landing forces. The germans plan was : - Each transport ship towing 3–4 landing barges (riverine conversion) with inadequate floatation limit (real possibility to capsize at rough sea) at the amazing speed of 3–4 miles a hour).

- After they reach the choosen invasion site the 4 forces will make a synchronised turn and reach the landing site on several wave (the small rehersal of this manoeuver resulted in several dozen of german soldiers drowned when they panicked and their barges capsized). - The landing forces (without any tanks or large artillery) should take and fight on the beach. Their life-jacket being stockpiled on the beach and transferred to the next wave (there is a large lack of jacket, but no one ever compute how they will transfer from the stockpile back to the ships). - They will now have to seize and old a port for 3 weeks, wich is the time Kriegsmarine estimate it will need to re-assemble, repair and ressuply the ships and send the first supply run and heavy equipment. All in all, they didn’t invade simply because they can’t. They were amazingly lucky to win the Battle of France so fast and couldn’t believe themselves, they never had any plan on how to defeat Britain if they dont sue nor accept peace after France fall. Did Hitler Plan to Invade Britain? Did Hitler Plan to Invade Britain?

SHARE: Facebook Twitter Was Operation Sea Lion – Germany’s supposed strategy to invade United Kingdom in World War II – real or was it just a ploy used by British authorities that time to promulgate victory over the Nazis? Retold in history by eyewitnesses and news bulletins at that time, dependable sources have singled out September 16 as the date Hitler chose for his England invasion. It was the day when the moon was at its brightest, thus, the tide was at its fullest. Additionally, he had a powerful air force at his disposal as well as an immense fleet of sea crafts. However, when the Nazi advanced its guard and gave massive raids a go on September 15, 1940, The Royal Air Force (RAF) also started going offensive against the attacking army managing to cripple the Nazis. As the Manchester Guardian reported about the event, RAF had smashed Hitler’s plan. Hitler’s Operation Sea Lion failed, England was able to retain its invincibility. But Fritz Hesse, a press attache and a diplomat at a German embassy in London, thought otherwise and he wrote about it in his book, Hitler and the English.

“British propaganda twisted the fact that Hitler failed to invade England into a proof of England’s invincibility. The truth, however, was, as I can testify, that Hitler never went ahead with his plan for the invasion but regarded it as dubious from a technical point of view and politically undesirable.” To him, Hitler had an intense love-hatred towards England and this admiration of the British empire had stopped him short from putting his plan into action. Operation Sealion - History Learning Site Operation Sealion Citation: C N Trueman "Operation Sealion" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 20 Apr 2015. 16 Aug 2016. Operation Sealion was the name given by Hitler for the planned invasion of Great Britain in 1940. Operation Sealion was never carried out during the war as the Germans lost the Battle of Britain and it is now believed that Hitler was more interested in the forthcoming attack on Russia as opposed to invading Britain.

Göering, on right, overlooking the White Cliffs of Dover The projected invasion on Britain included: Army Group A (6 divisions) invading Kent via the areas near Ramsgate, Folkstone and Bexhill Army Group A (4 divisions) invading Sussex and Hampshire via the area around Brighton and the Isle of Wight. Army Group B (3 divisions) invading Dorset via Lyme Bay From Kent, Army Group A would advance to south-east London and then to Malden and St. Albans north of London. From Sussex/Hampshire, the 4 divisions of Army Group A would advance to the west of London and meet up with the other 6 divisions of Army Group A, thus encircling London. Other parts of the group would head towards Gloucester and the River Severn region. From Dorset, Army Group B would advance to Bristol. The whole plan relied on Germany having complete control of the English Channel, which, in turn meant that Germany had to have control of the skies so that the Royal Air Force could not attack German ships crossing the Channel. Hence victory in the Battle of Britain was an integral part of the plan. Operation Sealion looked simple in theory. Britain should have been an easy target.

The Luftwaffe was very experienced in modern warfare, the Wehrmacht had experienced astonishing success since the attack on Poland and the British had lost a vast amount of military hardware on the beaches of Dunkirk. The RAF and the Army in Britain looked weak; only the Royal Navy seemed to offer Britain some semblance of protection. It is said that Hitler was prepared to offer Britain generous peace terms. However, on May 21st, 1940, Admiral Raeder told Hitler about a plan to invade Britain and Hitler, it is said, was taken in by the plan. If Britain had not surrendered, Hitler had planned an economic war which could have taken a long time to be effective. However, a military conquest of Britain would be swift and decisive. The military success of the German military since September 1939, seem to confirm in Hitler’s mind that an attack on a demoralised British Army would be swift. Towards the end of June 1940, Hitler gave the order for the German military to make plans for an invasion of Britain.

In fact, they were one step ahead of Hitler here as all three branches of the German military had guessed that an invasion would be needed and had already started on their own plans. In November 1939, the German Navy had done its own report on an invasion of Britain. It was not optimistic about its success. The German Navy detailed many problems that would be experienced for either a short crossing or a long crossing. It did not state that an attempted invasion would be unsuccessful – but it was cautious. In December 1939, the Wehrmacht had produced its own report. This favoured a surprise attack on Britain via East Anglia by 16 or 17 divisions. However, this plan needed the support of the German Navy and they believed that the Wehrmacht’s plan was untenable as the German navy would have to protect any landing fleet of the army whilst having to fight the British Navy. Raeder believed that this was an impossible task to complete successfully. The Luftwaffe pointed out that for its part, it would need good weather for the whole of the invasion if it was to do its job – and across the North Sea this could not be guaranteed.

Though the Luftwaffe had experienced success in both the attacks on Poland and Western Europe, the RAF had not used its fighter force to its full capacity in the spring of 1940. After the fall of France, the only major European power not to have fallen was Great Britain. The problems of an invasion were known to all three branches of the German military: Control of the Channel would be needed Control of the skies would be needed Good weather would be needed However, for all of the work done by the military on a projected invasion of Britain, it seems that Hitler had little enthusiasm for it. On June 17th, 1940, the navy received a communiqué that informed them that: “With regard to the landing in Britain the Führer has not up to now expressed such an intention, as he fully appreciates the unusual difficulties of such an operation. Therefore, even at this time, no preparatory work of any kind has been carried out in the Wehrmacht High Command.” On June 21st, 1940, the navy was told that the Army General Staff: “Is not concerning itself with the question of England. Considers execution impossible.

Does not know how the operation is to be conducted from the southern area.” Hitler’s position was obviously crucial as without his support no invasion was possible. At the time, it is thought that he believed that Britain would sue for peace and that he could make generous peace terms with the British on the condition that they recognised Germany’s position on mainland Europe. Even during the Dunkirk evacuation, one of his generals – Blumentritt – was astonished to hear Hitler talk about the British in glowing terms. “(Hitler spoke) with great admiration of the British Empire, of the necessity for its existence, and of the civilisation that Britain had brought into the world.” Blumentritt It was only when it became clear that Britain would not sign peace terms that Hitler gave his backing to an invasion. On July 2nd 1940, Hitler gave his first tentative orders regarding a possible invasion of Britain.

It stated that “a landing in England is possible, providing that air superiority can be attained and certain other necessary conditions fulfilled…..all the preparations must be made on the basis that the invasion is still only a plan, and has not yet been decided upon.” Hitler, July 2nd 1940 On July 13th, the army chiefs presented their plan – see first box above. They were so confident of success that they believed that Britain would be occupied within a month. On July 16th a directive called ‘Preparation for a landing operation against England’ was issued which stated that “As England, in spite of her hopeless military situation, still shows no willingness to come to terms, I have decided to prepare, and if necessary, to carry out, a landing operation against her. The aim of this operation is to eliminate the English mother country as a base from which the war against Germany can be continued, and, if it should be necessary, to occupy it completely.” The code name for this operation was ‘Sea Lion’.

At a meeting with his service chiefs on July 21st, Hitler made it clear that he recognised that the plan had its dangers – especially those identified by Raeder – but he was keen to press on with the plan so that he could turn his full attention to Russia once Britain had been defeated. Hitler wanted Sea Lion to be over by mid-September. His naval chiefs believed that any invasion could not start until mid-September! Raeder supplied a list of reasons why the invasion could not go ahead before mid-September1940 (clearance of shipping lanes of mines, getting invasion barges ready etc) and he won the support of the army. Hitler ordered that as long as Germany controlled the sky, Operation Sea Lion would go start on September 15th 1940. Therefore, the invasion depended entirely on whether Göering’s Luftwaffe could defeat the RAF. The failure of the Germans to defeat the RAF had to lead to the cancellation of Operation Sea Lion which was announced on September 17th 1940. One of the interesting issues to come out of this episode was the inability of the three units that made up the German military to either work together or support one another.

primarily, the chiefs of the army railed against Raeder while he and his chiefs criticised the plans of the army. The Luftwaffe took the view, though it was primarily Göering’s, that any success depended on the Luftwaffe conquering the skies. Another key point that came out of this episode in the war, was Hitler’s seeming refusal to listen to his military commanders and wanting things done his way. This came out of the success the military had against Poland and the nations of Western Europe – countries attacked without the overwhelming support of the military but attacked because Hitler instinctively knew that they would win – or so he believed. The Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilizationï¿½ The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the warï¿½ Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'.

Winston Churchill, speaking in the House of Common (11 June 1940. Links This alternative history site argues that Operation Sealion was doomed to fail ï¿½ by Blake Harrison ppt. swf. Battle of Britain - 15 Sept 1940; clip from the 1969 movie Hitler wanted to invade Britain. He called his plan ï¿½ Operation Sealion ï¿½ . He had detailed plans of who would rule Britain after it was conquered. His propaganda machine had already made a newsreel of the ï¿½victoriousï¿½ German soldiers and the British they had ï¿½capturedï¿½. But Britain was defended by the Royal Navy, which was much stronger than the German Navy. If Hitler was going to mount an invasion of Britain, he would have to find a way to defend his invasion barges from attack. The German airforce ï¿½ the Luftwaffe ï¿½ could defend the invasion, but, to do that, Hitler would first have to knock out the Royal Air Force (RAF). That is how the Battle of Britain came about.

The Battle of Britain was really the first part of Hitlerï¿½s invasion of Britain. Four developments laid the foundations of Britainï¿½s survival: Firstly, Britain had built a series of radar stations (July 1935). British radar was superior because, not only could it tell where the enemy planes were coming from, but it had a way to telling the fighters so that they could go and attack them. Secondly, in July 1937, Air Chief Marshall Dowding was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command. He was a brilliant commander who ï¿½ on a small budget ï¿½ was able to reorganise the RAF into four Groups, each divided into a number of sectors (each with a main sector airfield with a number of supporting airfields). Thirdly, the British developed two brilliant planes ï¿½ the Hurricane (Nov 1935) which was reliable and was used to shoot down the Luftwaffe bombers; and the Spitfire (March 1936), the fastest plane in the world, which was used to destroy the Nazi fighters which protected the bombers.

Fourthly, in May 1940, Churchill put Lord Beaverbrook (owner of the Daily Express) in charge of aircraft production. He ran one appeal for aluminium ï¿½ ï¿½We will turn your pots and pans into Spitfires and Hurricanesï¿½ ï¿½ and another scheme where towns, groups or individuals could ï¿½buyï¿½ a Spitfire (for ï¿½5000) and send it off the fight the Nazis. He also set up a Civilian Repair Organisation, which made new planes from the left-over pieces of planes which had been shot down. Beaverbrook cut through government red tape, and increased the production by 250%; in 1940, British factories produced 4,283 fighters, compared to Germanyï¿½s 3,000. The Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain started officially on 10 June 1940, when the Luftwaffe attacked a convoy of ships off Dover. But the real air war started on 12 August (when the Luftwaffe attacked the RAF), and lasted until 31 October.

At first the Luftwaffe attacked radar stations and airfields. Although the Luftwaffe lost more planes than the RAF, by the 31 August the RAF was at its last gasp ï¿½ in the previous fortnight the RAF had lost 295 planes destroyed and 170 damaged, 103 pilots killed and 128 wounded. Flying five or more ï¿½sortiesï¿½ a day, the young British fighter pilots (nicknamed ï¿½Dowdingï¿½s chicksï¿½) were becoming exhausted; more importantly, the RAF was not training new pilots as fast the pilots were being killed. The weekend 30-31 August was the worst weekend of the battle for the RAF, with 65 fighters destroyed and 6 of the seven sector stations in the vital south-east Group out of action. Just as Fighter Command was about to collapse, however, a miracle happened. On 24 August, by accident, some Luftwaffe bombers had dropped their bombs on London. The next few nights, the RAF replied by bombing Berlin. Hitler was angry. On 2 September he ordered his bombers to attack London.

On 7 September the Nazi bombing raid was so huge that a false alarm went round the south-east of England: code-word ï¿½Cromwellï¿½ ï¿½ invasion imminent. Church bells rang and the Home Guard mobilised. It was not known at the time but one section of coast identified by the Nazis as a landing ground was defended by a Home Guard platoon with just one machine-gun! Hitlerï¿½s decision to stop attacking the RAF gave it time to recover. On 15 September, the Luftwaffe came by day in huge numbers. It expected to sweep the RAF from the skies. But the RAF fought them off. At one point every British plane was in the sky ï¿½ soon, some would have to come in to refuel and there were no reserves to protect them. But the Luftwaffe, too, was at the limit and ï¿½ just in time ï¿½ it turned back. 15 September is celebrated as ï¿½Battle of Britain dayï¿½. Source B Headline from 16 Sept. In fact, only about 69 enemy planes were destroyed. Does this mean that this newspaper is a useless source to historians?

In the meantime, the RAF had been bombing the Nazi invasion fleet. On 17 September, Hitler ordered the postponement of Operation Sealion. Instead, the Luftwaffe concentrated on night-bombing London (the ï¿½blitzï¿½). In all, the RAF lost 1,173 planes and 510 pilots and gunners killed in the Battle of Britain. The Luftwaffe lost 1,733 planes and 3,368 airmen killed or captured. If the Luftwaffe had succeeded, Britain would have been invaded and conquered. But the RAF held out, and Britain survived. Poster published by the government during the war. Dowding, a Scot was a dull, boring character nicknamed ï¿½Stuffyï¿½. Did You Know? The Spitfire was designed by Reginald Mitchell, who was dying of cancer. He worked round the clock on the plane, and finished it just before his death. Did You Know? I have been contacted by a student on the History Help forum who told me that 'the British pilots were joined by many pilots from Poland, the Czech republic, Canada or New Zealand.

12% of all German planes destroyed in the Battle of Britain were destroyed by Polish pilots. Also, foreign pilots helped modify the way that British pilots were flying; the British were flying in tight formations which meant that they were spending more time on looking at themselves in order not to collide rather than searching the sky for enemies.' Source C The gratitude of every homeï¿½ goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. Winston Churchill, in the House of Commons, 20 August 1940 Explanation: ï¿½Never in the field of human conflict [= war] was so much [= freedom] owed by so many [= the people of Britain] to so few [= the pilots of the RAF]. It is absolutely critical - if you are evaluating this source - to note the date: only a week after the beginning of the real fighting, and well before the darkest period of the battle during the first week-or-so in September. Extra 1. Study Source A.

Find the four qualities of British airmen which - according to Churchill - helped them to win the Battle of Britain. 2. Churchill (Source A) praised the pilots for winning the Battle of Britain. Do you agree? Can you find SIX other reasons why Hitler failed to invade Britain? World War II: Operation Sea Lion - Invasion of Britain, 1940 World War II: Operation Sea Lion World War II Battles - Europe World War II: Operation Sea Lion Invasion barges assembled at the German port of Wilhelmshaven. Photograph Courtesy of Deutsches Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archive), Bild 101II-MN-1369-10A Operation Sea Lion - Conflict & Date: Operation Sea Lion was slated to take place sometime in late 1940, during World War II (1939-1945). Operation Sea Lion - Background: In the summer of 1940, shortly after Germany's stunning conquest of France, Adolf Hitler turned his attention to the final defeat of Britain. Somewhat surprised that London had rebuffed peace overtures, he issued Directive No.

16 on July 16 which stated, "As England, in spite of the hopelessness of her military position, has so far shown herself unwilling to come to any compromise, I have decided to begin to prepare for, and if necessary to carry out, an invasion of England...and if necessary the island will be occupied." For this to succeed, Hitler laid out four conditions that had to be met to ensure success. Similar to those identified by German military planners in late 1939, they included elimination of the Royal Air Force to ensure air superiority, clearing of the English Channel of mines and the laying of German mines, the emplacing of artillery along the English Channel, and preventing the Royal Navy from interfering with the landings. Though pushed by Hitler, neither Grand Admiral Erich Raeder of the Kriegsmarine or Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring of the Luftwaffe were avid supporters of the invasion plan. Operation Sea Lion - German Planning: Dubbed Operation Sea Lion, planning moved forward under the guidance of Chief of the General Staff General Fritz Halder. Though Hitler had originally desired to invade on August 16, it was soon realized that this date was unrealistic.

Meeting with planners on July 31, Hitler was informed that most desired to postpone the operation until May 1941. As this would remove the political threat of the operation, Hitler refused this request but agreed to push Sea Lion back until September 16. In the early stages, the invasion plan for Sea Lion called for landings on a 200-mile front from Lyme Regis east to Ramsgate. This would have seen Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb's Army Group C cross from Cherbourg and land at Lyme Regis while Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt 's Army Group A sailed from Le Havre and the Calais area to land the southeast. Possessing a small and depleted surface fleet, Raeder opposed this broad front approach as he felt it could not be defended from the Royal Navy. As Göring began intense attacks against the RAF in August, which developed into the Battle of Britain , Halder vehemently attacked his naval counterpart feeling that a narrow invasion front would lead to heavy casualties.

Operation Sea Lion - The Plan Changes: Bowing to Raeder's arguments, Hitler agreed to narrow the scope of the invasion on August 13 with the westernmost landings to be made at Worthing. As such, only Army Group A would take part in the initial landings. Composed of the 9th and 16th Armies, von Rundstedt's command would cross the Channel and establish a front from the Thames Estuary to Portsmouth. Pausing, they would build up their forces before conducting a pincer attack against London. This taken, German forces would advance north to around the 52nd parallel. Hitler assumed that Britain would surrender by the time his troops reached this line. As the invasion plan continued to be in flux, Raeder was plagued by a lack of purpose-built landing craft. To remedy this situation, the Kriegsmarine gathered around 2,400 barges from around Europe. Though a large number, they were still insufficient for the invasion and could only be used in relatively calm seas. As these were gathered in the Channel ports, Raeder continued to be concerned that his naval forces would be insufficient to combat the Royal Navy's Home Fleet.

To further support the invasion, a myriad of heavy guns were emplaced along the Straits of Dover. Operation Sea Lion - British Preparations: Aware of German invasion preparations, the British began defensive planning. Though a large number of men were available, much of the British Army's heavy equipment had been lost during the Dunkirk Evacuation . Appointed Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces in late May, General Sir Edmund Ironside was tasked with overseeing the island's defense. Lacking sufficient mobile forces, he elected to construct a system of static defensive lines around southern Britain which were backed by the heavier General Headquarters Anti-tank Line. These lines were to be supported by a small mobile reserve. Operation Sea Lion - Delayed and Cancelled: On September 3, with British Spitfires and Hurricanes still controlling the skies over southern Britain, Sea Lion was again postponed, first to September 21 and then, eleven days later, to September 27. On September 15, Göring launched massive raids against Britain in an attempt to crush Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding 's Fighter Command. Defeated, the Luftwaffe took heavy losses.

Summoning Göring and von Rundstedt on September 17, Hitler indefinitely postponed Operation Sea Lion citing the Luftwaffe's failure to obtain air superiority and a general lack of coordination between the branches of the German military. Turning his attention eastward to the Soviet Union and planning for Operation Barbarossa , Hitler never returned to the invasion of Britain and the invasion barges were ultimately dispersed. In the years after the war, many officers and historians have debated whether Operation Sea Lion could have succeeded. Most have concluded that it likely would have failed due to the strength of the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine's inability to prevent it from interfering with the landings and subsequent re-supply of those troops already ashore. Selected Sources

Question: What did Hitler call his planned invasion of Britain?
Answer: 'OPERATION SEALION'